Nearly half of Scottish constituencies include at least one general election candidate who has expressed or shared a view branded as hateful, a conspiracy theory, or misinformation, a Ferret analysis has found.
We identified examples of 32 candidates expressing what critics claim are extreme views, including falsehoods about subjects including climate science or the Covid vaccine, in 26 of Scotland’s 57 Westminster seats.
The controversial opinions were shared on social media or in political interviews or broadcasts.
By far, most of these candidates came from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which is fielding candidates in every Scottish constituency.
Some Reform candidates shared Islamophobic views, while others questioned climate science, and one suggested that Covid-19 lockdowns were a “punishment for Brexit and Trump” by organisations and individuals like Tony Blair, the World Economic Forum and the BBC.
Other parties with candidates platforming allegedly conspiratorial or extreme views included the Workers Party of Britain and fringe parties like the Scottish Family, Scottish Libertarian and Heritage Parties.
One public policy expert said the number of candidates with “abhorrent views” was “shocking”.
He claimed it was “no surprise” that Reform came top for fielding candidates that promote comments branded as conspiracy theories, misinformation or hateful, but also urged mainstream parties to improve their selection processes.
In total The Ferret found 16 Reform candidates in Scotland have shared extreme views, including some we have already revealed in the last six weeks. Many shared posts on social media which denied the existence of climate change, rejecting the scientific consensus that human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, are causing global warming.
Climate change denial is not new. The Global Climate Coalition, a US-based lobbyist group, was accused of deliberately sowing doubt and confusion in its campaigns against regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions as far back as 1989.
However these ideas are gaining momentum again with the help of right-wing parties – including Reform – which believe in lowering regulations for businesses. Those sharing posts on social media expressing skepticism about climate science included Alan Melville, the Reform candidate for Edinburgh North and Leith.
He shared a post which claimed that “climate change is a hoax designed to take your power and money”.
Robert Smith, Reform’s candidate for Orkney and Shetland, shared a post with the hashtag #Climatescam, which claims that global warming is a lie. In another post he argued that “every climate summit is snowed on”, and “ships in the arctic to prove there’s no ice stuck in the ice”.
The Reform candidate for Gordon and Buchan, Kris Callander, engaged with a post stating climate change was “clear b*llocks”, posting a meme that suggested warming had been caused by water vapour from a volcano.
Several Scottish candidates shared a post by Reform chairman Richard Tice which claimed: “CO2 isn’t a poison. It’s plant food! We need to challenge the climate change nonsense!”.
The Ferret has previously reported during this election campaign on Scottish Reform candidates who have made disparaging comments about trans people and Humza Yousaf’s Pakistani heritage, called Greta Thunberg ‘aspergers girl’, and shared a post comparing Allah to the devil.
Candidates for Reform were not the only ones to cast doubt on climate science.
The Scottish Libertarian Party, which is standing candidates in Edinburgh West and Midlothian, has also regularly shared climate misinformation including posts from a campaign launched by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which has claimed there is “no observational evidence for any global climate crisis”.
Meanwhile, Graeme Craib of the Scottish Family Party told attendees of an event organised by anti-lockdown group, Together, that low emission zones – which restrict access for the most polluting vehicles to improve air quality – are not about reducing emissions, but are instead being put in place to “control us”.
Together launched a campaign against net-zero policies last year, the launch page of which argued net-zero was based on “wildly exaggerated fears about the future”
One Scottish Family Party candidate also claimed that there is “LGBT indoctrination” happening in Scottish schools while another shared a post falsely alleging that the UN “promotes sex with minors”.
Mark Turnbull, standing for the Freedom Alliance in Paisley and Renfrewshire South, also claims his party doesn’t recognise climate change. “People running under the climate change banner might be trying to suppress you,” he told a local radio station.
Freedom Alliance was formed to oppose lockdowns during the pandemic.
In a post from October 2021, Derek Winton, the Reform candidate for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, said he suspected that lockdowns were “in some way punishment for Brexit and Trump” by bodies like the EU, the World Economic Forum and the UN as well as individuals like Tony Blair and Bill Gates.
Raymond Mennie, who is standing for George Galloway’s Workers Party in Dundee Central, has also been accused of sharing anti-semitic material online and he was jailed for corruption while a Labour councillor in the city back in 1993.
Number of candidates with ‘abhorrent’ views ‘shocking’
James Mitchell, professor of public policy at Edinburgh university, said: “Scrutiny of candidates seeking election to public office is essential. While the odd candidate might get through vetting, especially when there is little time for a more thorough selection process, the number of candidates with abhorrent views across such a range of constituencies is shocking.
“Too little attention is paid to selection processes inside political parties that lack transparency. More openness is required both to save embarrassment for mainstream parties and more importantly to provide important information to voters.
“It is no surprise that Reform has the largest number of candidates who have expressed or shared conspiracy theories, misinformation and hateful comments – in some cases repeatedly and across a range of subjects.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “We should all be concerned about the impact of misinformation and right-wing conspiracies on our politics, especially when they often go hand in hand with other extreme views. This election is a really crucial moment for our environment and our economy.
“We are confident that Scotland will see through the false promises and prejudices being peddled by parties like Reform and focus on the solutions to the urgent challenges we face, including the cost-of-living crisis and the climate emergency.”
Willie Rennie MSP said: “Liberal Democrats believe that free expression is an important value but I am confident that the electorate will render a sharp verdict on candidates who have put themselves forward in order to spread conspiracies and hateful views.
“The Reform party seems to have an astonishing ability to attract conspiracists, cranks and Russia sympathisers.”
Party spokespeople on their candidates’ comments
Peter Ford, the deputy leader of the Workers Party of Britain said: “Mr Mennie was a Labour councillor at the time of his offence. Now, as a WPB candidate, he, like all our candidates (no rich supporters for us), is paying all his own expenses. Corruption today needs ferreting out elsewhere, methinks.”
Ford said his party was “considerably more concerned” about the “children killed by the Israelis in Gaza” – which totalled around 15,000 in June, according to the UN – than social media posts by one of the party’s candidates.
Richard Lucas, leader of the Scottish Family Party (SFP), said: “I absolutely agree that many candidates in this election have been found to hold abhorrent views. But our candidates have not.”
He said he found no evidence of “conspiracy theories, misinformation about topics like climate change and Covid-19, or hateful views about minority communities” in the cases we presented to him and stood by Craib’s comment on Low Emission Zones (LEZs).
“Of course LEZs are about control. They control which vehicles are allowed. The extent to which they reflect an overly controlling attitude from government is a perfectly reasonable point of discussion,” he said.
Lucas added it was the SFP’s position that LGBT indoctrination was happening in schools, and argued there were “reasons to be concerned about the UN and child sexuality”.
All parties and independent candidates mentioned in the story were approached for comment.
As the general election approaches, The Ferret is diving deep into the influence of conspiracy theories, disinformation, and culture wars on political discourse. Have you come across falsehoods or conspiracies shared by candidates, political parties, or viral memes? We want to hear from you! Get in touch at contact@theferret.scot, and we will take a look.
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Main image: iStock/Adam Webb
No mention of the extreme views on lockdowns & Covid mandates of the legacy parties?